Aquatic Plants: Good or Bad?

Vernon Summerlin

The popular country music star, Tracy Byrd from Beaumont, Texas says, “Back home on Lake Rayburn, we cast one-ounce jigs into the pockets. The extra weight gets the jig through the vegetation. I use a rod called Yard Rake because I need heavy action to work the weeds. You need something heavy to haul the big fish out of the moss.”

The jig he uses for fishing the Texas grass has a pointed, bullet-like head with a larger than usual plastic weed guard.

"You can see pockets in the moss, some will be as big as a 55-gallon drum, some are smaller. We trim the motor up and let the wind drift us across the weeds. We flip into the pockets, letting the heavy jig cut through the moss and bump it on the bottom a couple of times. If we don't get a hit after the first couple of bumps, go to the next pocket. We're fishing vertically. You can catch some big fish that way."

I like to fish aquatic plants with a Texas rigged worm without the slip sinker. Other anglers have their favorite techniques, such as the Scum Frog or Rat for fishing weeds. But are these weeds good for our ponds, lakes and rivers?

The definite answer is Yes and No!

Anglers find that many aquatic plant are beneficial to their fishing success, but the introduction of non-indigenous invasive plants has been escalating with widespread destructive consequences.

Aquatic plants are beneficial for fish and wildlife. They provide food, dissolved oxygen, and spawning and nesting habitat for fish. Aquatic plants can trap excessive nutrients and detoxify chemicals.

Dense growths, more than 25 percent of the surface area, can threaten aquatic life, restrict swimming, boating, and fishing. Dense growths can also cause nighttime oxygen depletion and kill fish. Green plants produce oxygen in sunlight, but they consume oxygen at night, resulting in fish kills from suffocation. Dense plant growths can provide too much cover, preventing predation, and leading to stunted sport fish populations.

The following are just a few of the aquatic plants you are likely to meet while fishing.

Milfoil is the name for a large group of related aquatic plants and some are invasive. Invasive aquatic plants can take over a lake, hurting native plant communities and hindering recreational uses. Native milfoils, the “good” milfoils, are generally not invasive and contribute to a healthy lake environment.

“Bad milfoil,” the Eurasian type, is highly aggressive and out competes native species and clogs the shallow areas of a lake. Since the 1950's it has spread to 45 states.

Below the waterline, the leaves of the water milfoils are divided into threadlike segments and look almost like feathers. Above the water, they are blade-like with serrated edges. The rooted stems may be up to six feet long.

Filamentous algae are also called moss or pond scum. It forms green, cottony masses that are free-floating or attached to rocks, debris or other plants. These masses consist of fine, green filaments that have no leaves, roots, or stems. They often form dense, floating mats that make fishing or swimming impossible and can easily clog water intake screens.

Chara is identified by its crisp, gritty texture, musky odor, and gray-green, needlelike structures that resemble leaves. These underwater plants are large algae. The grittiness comes from a thick coating of lime that the plants extract from the alkaline water in which they are commonly grow. It carpets the bottom of lakes and crowds out other species.

Coontail, the common name of this plant, comes from the crowded upper leaves that make the stem tip appear bushy like the tail of a raccoon. It is rooted to the bottom but sometimes forms large tangled clumps that float freely. Its stems can grow six feet or more and usually grows totally underwater.

Naiads are slender, narrow-leafed plants that grow completely underwater and are rooted to the bottom. The leaves have finely toothed edges and occur in pairs or whorls. Each leaf base forms a sheath around the stem. A key characteristic is the presence of tiny, greenish flowers at the bases of the leaves. These plants may be hard to distinguish from some of the narrow-leafed pondweeds and other similar plants.

Pondweeds have underwater leaves scattered on long flexible stems up to six feet long that are rooted to the bottom. Some have floating leaves, which usually have a different shape than the underwater leaves.

Among the various species, the leaves range from large, round, and leathery to small, needlelike, and delicate. The small, greenish flowers are borne on a spike that extends above the water for wind pollination. Pondweeds can spread by rhizomes, winter buds, seeds, or fragmentation, depending on the species.

Duckweed plant is a green, floating disc less than ¼-inch across. They occur singly or connected in groups. Watermeal is the smallest duckweed; each plant is about the size of a pinhead.

Duckweeds spread quickly, especially when nutrients are plentiful. Some members of the duckweed family can reproduce every three days. At this rate a square inch could cover an acre in less than two months. Dense duckweed will block sunlight, reduce dissolved oxygen levels, and destroy the lake’s balance.

Water lilies are among the most beautiful water plants. They have large, round leaves with a single V-shaped notch. Their large flowers are white to pink and do not have the central disc found in the yellow flowers of the American lotus. Leaves and flowers are attached to flexible underwater stalks that rise from thick, woody rhizomes on the bottom.

Why They Grow and Who to Call

Aquatic plants proliferate in shallow and clear water with excess nutrients and they reproduce fast. Selection of the best treatment or combination of treatments depends on the species of water plant, the extent of the problem, and local environmental conditions.

First you need to be sure that you have an aquatic plant problem. Some aquatic plant growths are minor or temporary and do not require action. If aquatic plants cover more than 25 percent of the surface area, you should consider implementing weed control.

Different types of weeds - algae, floating-leaf weeds, emergent weeds, and submersed weeds - require different treatments. Contact your local Conservation Department for evaluation and remedies.